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What Makes Colloidal Oatmeal Colloidal?

I've been on an extensive, several-part research session that turned up differing answers, more questions and a whole lot of interesting info about microns, particle sizes, and oats for skincare that we're going to be looking at today.

Who could imagine oats could be such a mind-blowing ingredient?

But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Get ready for a bit of a ride as we examine colloidal oats, because there are going to be a few twists and turns along the way!

It All Started...

It was discussion with some colleagues about the correct process for making colloidal oatmeal that started this whole thing. Some were convinced colloidal oatmeal could only be produced via several steps that entail boiling in water, drying, and subsequent filtering. Others were convinced making colloidal oatmeal was 'merely' a matter of grinding/milling oats to a certain particle size.

Guess what.

Everyone was right.

But before we get into the processes of making colloidal oatmeal, we need to take a peek at the difference between colloidal oatmeal and ground oats and oat flour.

Colloidal Oatmeal vs Ground Oats vs Oat Flour

If you grind up a portion of rolled oats (what we did on this post), your result (unsurprisingly) will be ground oats. A coffee grinder and lots of sifting may get you a fine, powdery result, but still won't get the particle size down far enough to call it colloidal oatmeal.

Go ahead and add your ground oats to a powdered face cleanser or face mask, but if you incorporate it into an emulsion (say, a lotion), it may create undesirable lumpy-bits.

In short: ground oats have more limited uses than colloidal oatmeal in a cosmetics-making setting.

Colloidal oatmeal is processed from whole oats and includes the bran, but has a smaller particle size than can be achieved in a home setting (more on that in a minute).

Oat flour is made from oats where the bran has been removed. By removing the bran, it's possible to mill the oats to a much finer particle size. This is great if you want to add a bit of texturizer to your product, but not at all great if you want all the documented skin-loving properties that colloidal oats offer.

Colloidal oatmeal is anti-inflammatory, helps soothe itchiness and offers barrier repair.
Oats also contain a small percentage of saponins, which are great for cleansing activity.

The bran is – quite simply – where the actives are.

Colloidal Oat Confusion

Now that we know the difference between oat flour, colloidal oatmeal and ground oats, one would think there was nothing more to discuss (or research).

One would think.

But while I was researching colIoidal oatmeal, I kept running into this:
The INCI name for colloidal oatmeal is: Avena Sativa (oat) kernel flour
The INCI name for oat flour is: Avena Sativa (oat) kernel flour

Do you see any difference in these INCI names?

I sure don't.

It seems you can't be quite sure of whether or not you are purchasing oat flour or colloidal oatmeal just by looking at the INCI name.

Colloidal Oatmeal is finely ground oatmeal. It is often used to relieve minor skin irritation and itching due to poison ivy or insect bites. It can also be used as a soak, compress or wet dressing. When oatmeal is used in cosmetic and personal care products, it may be called Avena Sativa (Oat) Kernel / Meal.

Colloidal oatmeal is a natural cosmetic ingredient obtained from Avena sativa (oats). The whole oat grain, including the bran layer, is milled and sieved. This results in a light cream coloured, fine powder.

Aroma Zone describes their colloidal oatmeal as such (Google translated from French):

This powder is called colloidal because the fineness of its particles allows it to form a homogeneous suspension.
Particle size: 44 microns

(note the micron mention - we're going to be looking at that in a tic)

I emailed Maggie Ghanem of Formulator Sample Shop to ask if she could explain a bit about about colloidal oats and she was kind enough to provide me with this:

Colloidal Oatmeal is made of finely milled oats from the Avena sativa plant. It consists of sugars, amino acids, lipids and fibers. Colloidal Oats are grounded, boiled and steamed. Oat grains are milled into fine powder that will produce a cosmetic agent that can be used as an addition to baths, powders, and moisturizing creams.

All in all, there's some great info here, but the mention of microns and particle sizes raised even more questions.

We need to get a teensy bit nerdy now, but stick with me and I'll try to make it as entertaining as possible. Here's a quick peek at Wikipedias illustration from the previous post again.

Microns, Nanometers, and Colloids

The upper limit size for particles in a colloid is generally defined at 1000 nanometers. That means, each of those little green particles you see up there on the left should be under 1000 nanometers in size.

1000 nanometers is equal to 1 micrometer - commonly called micron.

How tiny is a micron?

Well, 15 microns is the same as 0.01 mm in size (that's one hundredth of a millimeter).

Now, remember Aroma Zones product description above? It mentions a particle size of 45 microns. That is the same as a particle size of 0.04 mm (read: four hundredths of a millimeter).

Colloidal Oatmeal Particle Sizes

Now let's look at the particle sizes of colloidal oatmeal, which consists of about 20% starch particles and 80% oat-y particles.
The starch particle size is between 10 - 25 microns.
The oat-y particle size is described as 'below 75 microns'.

I know you're seeing this too.

Something doesn't fit.

The particles in colloidal oatmeal are massive! They have a diameter well above 1000 nanometers.

Colloidal oatmeal particles are too big to be classified as a colloid.

If you want to get completely and utterly technical, even colloidal oatmeal isn't colloidal.

This was pretty much my reaction to this information.

But, instead of panicking and deciding the world was about to end, I decided to keep digging around and asking even more questions.

There was still the matter of production processes for colloidal – which was the correct method?

With the help of a very patient and gracious expert in the production of colloidal oatmeal, I finally found the answer (he has a special mention at the bottom of this post).

Production Processes for Colloidal Oatmeal

The Dry Way: If you have the right equipment (and no, we're not talking about a pricey super duper kitchen machine), it is indeed possible to dry-produce colloidal oats. The main challenge is the natural fat content of oats (about 7%) which tends to gunk up the 75 micron sieve it has to pass through, but as long as at least 80% of the oats can pass through the sieve, it's OK to label the packet 'colloidal oatmeal'. Granted, this method takes some real advanced milling equipment that not many have, but it is indeed do-able.

The Wet Way: Producers who employ 'the wet way' of making colloidal oats will use a process called pre-solubilising the oat starch. This means they soak the oats (and do other magic secret proprietary things) to separate the oaty bits from the starchy bits. This process changes the structure of the starch and allows the producer to achieve an acceptable colloidal oatmeal particle size.

So, everyone in the discussion was right!

Don't you just love it when that happens?

But wait!

There is still an unanswered question!

The Unanswered Question

Since the INCI name is identical on oat flour and colloidal oatmeal, how can we tell what are buying?

Here's the kicker.

I don't have the answer.

I can only offer this advice: ask your supplier. Be kind, but be persistant until you get a satisfactory answer. Be patient. It could take a few weeks, because sometimes the distributor (not being the producer) won't be able to answer you until they do a bit of digging and asking of their own first.

Comments

Well, there is an even further thought to this fine mess:Are the oats non-GMO?As, if we don't want GMO's inside our bodies, would we really want GMO's on the outside of our bodies either, where it gets inside your body by absorption?Talk about things getting complicated!!

Would it be possible to boil oats, blend, strain and dehydrate at home? Then you can process the dehydrated powder in a food processor. it seems like you'd be able to get a very silky, fine particle this way...

Hi Amy - You might get a fine powder to work with, but you still won't have colloidal oatmeal. Also, it sounds to me like the trouble, work and energy spent (electrical bill, etc) to acheive your product would cost more than buying colloidal oatmeal. For an easy, home method that will give you a fine silky powder, check my post called 'Colloidal oats - let's make our own".

Thanks for the quick response! I'd like to add it to instant coconut milk powder for a healthy coffee creamer that doesnt taste too coconutty, I actually quite dislike coconut flavour! Would you like an update when I try it?

Hi Anon - I think if you want to use oats as a coffee creamer you would do fine with finely ground oats that are then sifted (check my earlier blogpost). I'm pretty sure this will be a less expensive option. If you do decide to use colloidal oatmeal, it might be a good idea to ask your supplier if it is suitable for consumption - just to be on the safe side. I'd love to hear an update if you try it!

I was pondering this exact thing when I stumbled across your article. I am a frugal shopper, but I am also a very adventurous cook. I shop at salvage stores. Usually the selection is amazing. Sometimes you find things you are not familiar with, but I buy and try. Awhile back I bought colloidal oatmeal. It closely resembled baby cereal..Was light and did not sink into warm water or milk. It tasted good and went well in the smoothies for my hubbys PEG tube. Plan to buy again if I ever see it. I think I could take fine ground whole oats and toast them a minute and use my mortar and pestal to come up with something similar. But for skin care maybe the baby cereal would work.

What about whole grain oat flour ? "Whole" gives the impression that the bran is still includedBob's Red Mill makes it and specifically mentions that it includes the bran, the germ and the endosperm. Arrowhead Mills makes organic whole oat flour and I assume that whole means whole but they don't go out of their way to spell that out like Bob.Anyway it seems to be the cheap, whole and lazy way to go so I'm giving one of them a go tonight for my itchy scalp. I'llcome back to say whether it was effective. Certainly cheaper than commercial lotions that contain 2 percent colloidal oatmeal and charge an additional 10 bucks to the price.

Oats are not GMO at this point but that does not mean the grower does not use pesticides on the plants. Many oat products contain trace particles of the pesticides the grower applied (Learned at the NOFA Conference this past summer) so it is always a good thing to chose organically grown so you are not being exposed to those nasty things!

I tried adding colloidal oatmeal to a DIY cream but it seemed to give it a slightly grainy texture. I assumed it would be so soft that you wouldn’t be able to feel it if you rubbed the cream between your fingers but I could feel the fine particles which didn’t feel nice when rubbed of the skin. Any ideas on how to combat this issue?

Hey there Anon - A grainy feeling could be due to a couple of things: too much was added or the oatmeal you used was oat flour and not colloidal oatmeal. Did the cream change texture other than the graininess? What were the other ingredients in your cream? It's a bit hard to pinpoint the exact cause without knowing more.

Well that was the kind of detail I LOVE! Lise you are amazing!! Based on that depth I am very interested in buying a couple of your ebooks! But can u please indulge me and tell me where u actually can buy the proper colloidal oatmeal to use for lotion crafting? I’d like to try it.

Hello Ursula - I am working on a post with information on this as we speak - Meantime, the best way to ensure you are getting the real deal is to contact your local cosmetics supplier and ask them if they can assure /document that they are selling real colloidal oatmeal and not oat flour. Best of luck!

HI Ursula - If you check the descriptions, some of the e-books are stand-alone formulas from the book Working with Shea Butter. If you buy the shea butter book, you'll get all of the stand-alone formulas as well as a few extras. :)

Hi LaPrairie Lady - Hydrolized oat protein could most definitely be used in creams, but it is also possible to get a lump-free product with colloidal oats if you stay within the recommended dosage. Fine ground oatmeal in soap sounds absolutely lovely!

Thank you so much for your detailed explanation. If I can find a whole grain oat flour in supermarket, does it mean i am using oatmeal colloidal? I have just discovered this product and think of using this in my products.

Thanks so much for sharing! I love oatmeal colloidal so much but it's not easy to get it in my country. Recently I found a brand called Bob's Red Mill does have a product "whole grain oat flour". May I use it as oatmeal colloidal? as it should contains the brans & other benefits...

HI kelly K - Thanks for your question. I'm afraid milled oat flour is not the same as colloidal oats, but if it contains the bran then you are getting all the benefits. Nothing for it but to give it a try - but make SMALL batches and test. Best of luck!

Do you know which method "wet or dry way" is superior? Sometimes I feel like using water/steam could deplete some of those awesome nutrients. Thanks! Great post also, I appreciate your research and educating me.-Kay

Hey there Kay - Thanks for your comment! I am not sure either process is superior to the other. I do know the wet process is used by some of the folks who helped me with information for this post and also happen to be among the largest (if not THE largest) producer of oat products to the entire industry.

Oh my goodness what have i stumbled into? i was just looking to make a soap to help solve my itchy chihuahua and thought of adding oatmeal - will it need to be colloidal oatmeal for a soap ingredient do you think? anyone have a recipe for a soothing soap i can make?

Hey there Unknown - I'm sure I have seen many soaps with the addition of oats. I don't think you need to use colloidal for soap. You could use ground oats. There is a post on this blog that explains how. Enjoy!

Avena sativa is the same thing as old fashioned oats. When you google or research that inci name you also get quaket oats oatmeal. So long atory short over half the ingredients we formulate skincare with is edible or our bodies naturally produce it anyway . Colidol oats are the same thing as old fashioned bran otmeal finley grinded and then just sifted to get the powder. The powder is the same thing that suppliers are charging triple for. Research and science shows this just like aloe, green tea, etc.

HI Jdawgswife - Thanks for your comment. You are correct in that the source is the same, but the processing of it makes the difference. As I write in the article, if you can't get the particle size small enough WITH the bran, it looses the beneficial components and can't be incorporated into an emulsion without lumping. :)